ZACUBE-1 (Tshepiso)

Spacecraft nº:

South Africa spacecraft nº: 3

Launch data: Designation  13066AF Launch date  21 Nov 2013 - 07:10 UT Launch site  Do, LC-370/13 Launch vehicle  Dnepr Mission  Technology Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee   km Eccentricity   Inclination   ° Period   min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• The South African ZACUBE 1 (South Africa CubeSat-1) or TshepisoSat is a student-developed 1U CubeSat of CPUT (Cape Peninsula University of Technology), Cape Town, South Africa. Its main payload is a high frequency (HF) beacon transmitter that will be used to help characterize the Earth’s ionosphere and to calibrate SANSA's (South African National Space Agency) auroral radar installation at the SANAE-IV base in Antarctica.
• Development of ZACUBE-1 commenced in early 2011. ZACUBE-1’s ADCS was developed in a collaboration between F’SATI and ESL (Electronic System's Laboratory) at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
• Cubesats deployed from the Dnepr final stage were:
  • Dove-3, a 3U imaging satellite from PlanetLabs, San Francisco;
  • GOMX-1, a 6kg 2U cubesat test an ADS-B air traffic control receiver, for GOMSpace, Aalborg, Denmark.
  • OPTOS, a 3U satellite from INTA of Spain;
  • Delfi-n3Xt, a 3U cubesat from Delft U. of Tech.;
  • Triton-1, a 3U test of an AIS receiver from ISIS b.v., Netherlands;
  • KHUSAT-1 and 2 3U cubesats from Kyung Hee U., Seoul, to join the CINEMA constellation;
  • Cubebug-2 'Manolito' (2U) from Argentina,
  • NEE-2 'Krysaor' from Ecuadorian Space Agency,
  • ZACUBE-1 'Tshepiso' from South Africa's Cape Peninsula U. of Tech (CPUT);
  • VELOX-P2 from Singapore's Nanyang Tech U., UWE-3 from U. Wurzburg, and First-MOVE from Tech. U. Munich;
  • FUNCUBE-1 for AMSAT-UK, and Hincube-1 from Narvik University College.